The project of land restitution in Colombia: an illustration of the civilizing force of hypocrisy?

This article offers a theoretical interpretation of the dispositions on land restitution contained in the famous “Victims’ Bill”, which was debated in the Colombian Congress during the year 2008. The bill included specific mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing the restitution of land to victims of the Colombian armed conflict. At the time, the bill was endorsed by all the main political actors in the country –notably the government and the elites that support it, on the one hand, and victims’ and human rights organizations and other opposition groups, on the other–. The fact that the restitution of land to victims of the Colombian armed conflict was being considered as a serious possibility by all political actors in the country seemed to indicate the existence of a consensus among actors whose positions are ordinarily opposed, on an issue that has traditionally led to high levels of polarization. This consensus is quite puzzling, because it seems to be at odds with the interests and/or the conceptions of justice advocated by these political actors, and because the restitution of land faces enormous difficulties both from a factual and a normative point of view, which indicates that it may not necessarily be the best alternative for dealing with the issue of land distribution in Colombia. This article offers an interpretation of said consensus, arguing that it is only an apparent consensus in which the actors are actually misrepresenting their interests and conceptions of justice, while at the same time adopting divergent strategies of implementation aimed at fulfilling their true interests. Nevertheless, the article concludes that the common adherence by all actors to the principle of restorative justice might bring about its actual realization, and thus produce an outcome that, in spite (and perhaps even because) of being unintended, might substantively contribute to solving the problem of unequal land distribution in Colombia. Even though the article focuses in some detail on the specificities of the 2008 Bill, it attempts to make a general argument about the state of the discussion on how to deal with the issue of land distribution in the country. Consequently, it may still be relevant today, especially considering that a new Bill on land restitution is currently being discussed in Congress, which includes the same restitution goals as the Victims’ Bill and many of its procedural and substantive details, and which therefore seems to reflect a similar consensus to the one analyzed in the article.

Dinámicas de licenciamiento en la ciudad colombiana. Estudio de caso: tendencias de licenciamiento urbano en Bogotá, durante la vigencia del plan de ordenamiento territorial 2000-2013

El interés de comprender la manera en la que los instrumentos de planificación afectan la dinámica del mercado inmobiliario, dio origen a la presente investigación que estudia el desarrollo urbano de Bogotá a partir de la implementación del Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial, Decreto 190 de 2004. A través del estudio de las tendencias espaciales de licenciamiento, se evaluó si se logró consolidar el modelo de ocupación propuesto en el POT; encontrándose que las decisiones de localización de los agentes privados no respondieron a la estructura urbana deseada, al no haberse concretado en el territorio por ejemplo la red de centralidades y el programa de renovación urbana.

Advances and limitations in the attention to the problems of housing and urban land in Mexico. An approach from the legal-institutional frame

In this work we analyze the reforms carried out by the Mexican state in the nineties of the 20th century, in the items concerning the policies of housing and urban land, based on an exhaustive review of the main actions, programs and changes in the legal and institutional frame that applies for each of these fields. The nineties represent a "breaking point" in the way the State considers the satisfaction of the right to the housing and attends the offer of urbanized land for a tidy and sustainable urban development. In this period of time, the approach of direct intervention in developing and financing housing and creation of land reserves has changed into another one, ruled by the logic of the market. The balance to the first decade of the 21st century is ambiguous, as neither the housing policy has solved the housing shortage for low-income population, nor the land policy has eliminated the illegal urban growth.

El papel de las empresas de seguridad privada en la implementación de estrategias defensivas de seguridad militar en Irak (2004-2009)

La guerra de Irak del 2003 permitió la presencia y expansión de las Empresas de Seguridad Privada, tras demostrar su efectividad en el campo de batalla. Con el uso de estrategias y tácticas de guerra por parte de las ESP, que les otorgaron notables ventajas comparativas a los Estados frente a amenazas no convencionales que emergen de una guerra asimétrica, estas aumentaron su poder e influencia. Estos aportes en términos de la ejecución de la guerra contribuyeron a la construcción de la seguridad -militar-. Estados Unidos y Reino Unido actualmente son los principales consumidores y proveedores de este tipo de servicios, permitiéndole a las ESP un crecimiento más fuerte en sus capacidades y funciones.

Protection of Urban Lands: Advances in Medellin’s Public Policy

The problem of land ownership protection in this country is an issue that must be faced by those who have as part of their responsibilities the recognition, the restitution and the reparation of victims of forced displacement. One of the points that must be analyzed is the protection of ownership of urban lands, a subject falling under municipal responsibility. The development of a public policy by the City of Medellín for the protection of such lands is a significant advance for the creation of protocols and for the return of rights to those who have adandoned their lands because of violence or who have been divested of their homes in urban areas.

Dilemmas in Regards to the Restitution of Lands in Colombia

The text argues that, even if different sectors of society have some strategic points of agreement on the issue of land, which converge on the specific issue of restitution, they strongly disagree on various other points. On one side are some who advocate “pure restitution” and consequently support a restitution policy that focuses on correcting the illegal dispossession and clarifying land titles and individual rights to property, which would serve to boost the land market and allow for rural development policies that modernize agricultural production, fundamentally based on large, corporate ownership. On the other end of the spectrum are advocates of what we call “comprehensive restitution,” who promote adopting a restitution policy that meets the requirements not only of corrective justice but also of recognition and redistribution, advancing the interest of peasant, indigenous, and afro-Colombian communities.

Transfer of knowledge of the structural components of the model Q400 and Global Express: the case of Aerospace Bombardier, Querétaro

The aim of this paper is to analyze the knowledge transfer in the production of structural components of two aircraft:Q400 and Global Express of Bombardier Aerospace Company, Querétaro. Bombardier Aerospace is a pioneer company in the aviation sector in Mexico, and the third largest civil aircraft manufacturer. In 2005, Bombardier decided to invest in Mexico, creating Bombardier Aerospace de Mexico S. A. C. V. and transferring production lines from Japan and Toronto to Queretaro. The relocation strategy of both plants aims to reduce modular and general production costs facing other competitors. The relocation has been supported by the State Government funds, through a trust and the creation of Queretaro aerospace cluster. Among various benefits, the State of Queretaro donated seventy-eight acres of land where the Queretaro International Airport (QIA) and a training centre will be built to promote the development of this sector. The interest in this research is to analyze and describe the transfer of knowledge to the production of structural components of both aircraft models, thanks to the results of productivity and internal and external factors which have contributed along with this transfer

Geometric characterization of red blood cells. Differentiation of normal and pathologic samples

Introduction. Fractal geometry measures the irregularity of abstract and natural objects with the fractal dimension. Fractal calculations have been applied to the structures of the human body and to quantifications in physiology from the theory of dynamic systems.Material and Methods. The fractal dimensions were calculated, the number of occupation spaces in the space border of box counting and the area of two red blood cells groups, 7 normal ones, group A, and 7 abnormal, group B, coming from patient and of bags for transfusion, were calculated using the method of box counting and a software developed for such effect. The obtained measures were compared, looking for differences between normal and abnormal red blood cells, with the purpose of differentiating samples.Results. The abnormality characterizes by a number of squares of occupation of the fractal space greater or equal to 180; values of areas between 25.117 and 33.548 correspond to normality. In case that the evaluation according to the number of pictures is of normality, must be confirmed with the value of the area applied to adjacent red blood cells within the sample, that in case of having values by outside established and/or the greater or equal spaces to 180, they suggest abnormality of the sample.Conclusions. The developed methodology is effective to differentiate the red globules alterations and probably useful in the analysis of bags of transfusion for clinical use 

La ocupación de áreas de manantiales en la región metropolitana de São Paulo: los mercados de tierras en las zonas rurales periurbanas

Las ocupaciones ilegales, vinculadas a los procesos especulativos del mercado de tierras, generan numerosas tensiones ambientales y sociales. Estos conflictos se ven reforzados por la debilidad de las instituciones y los choques de intereses entre los agentes económicos. La mayoría de los estudios sobre los procesos de ocupación de las zonas rurales periurbanas en el Estado de Sao Paulo,  Brasil, se basan en la suposición de que de la Ley de Protección de los Manantiales (LPM) se genera la caída de los precios de las tierras. En este contexto, el presente estudio aporta un análisis  de la urbanización de estas áreas en los manantiales de la región metropolitana de Sao Paulo, del control de la influencia de la LPM en las ocupaciones y de la depreciación/valorización de terrenos  ubicados en esa zona. Los resultados muestran que el comportamiento de los precios de las tierras agrícolas de los municipios pertenecientes a las cuencas hidrográficas de la zona no estuvo influenciado  por la LPM. La influencia predo  inante, en este caso, es la de las políticas macroeconómicas del plan real de Brasil.

Transport impact of in urban planning: the case of Transmilenio in Bogota

The growth and expansion of cities during the last century can’t be seen without taking into account the important role they have assumed in the transport infrastructure. In Bogota have passed trough streetcar, buses and automóviles was deciding for the city, because all this periods marked a drastic change in growth morphology. This article studies the planning of Mass Transit System –MTS– Transmilenio and its interaction with the urban structure, in light of the current city planning framework. It also specifies the behavior of land use in the construction of the system first phase. One of the most important findings of this study is that there is no articulation between land and transport use system, despite the decisions taken in the ordering model. Similarly, local and intermediate planning exhibits Peak articulation.The existing infrastructure of the MTS reiterates the tendency to concentrate the accessibility in one place: the center has the largest accessibility whereas periphery fails to overcome its limitations of accessibility. While the city continued with this trend the existence of a coordinated planning system for Bogota and the ability to meet expectations of planning model is questionable, however it is something that depends not only on MTS.

Land Reform, Latifundia and Social Development at Local Level in Colombia, 1961-2010

The paper analyzes the effects of land reform on social development – poverty and land distribution-at the local level. Land reform in Colombia, understood as the allocation of public land to peasant, has granted 23 million hectares which comprises around 20% of Colombian territory and about 50% of usable productive land. Theoretically, the net impact of land reform on development is the combination of a poverty effect and a land distribution effect. Our findings suggest that land reform from 1961 onwards has slightly reduced poverty and mildly improved land distribution. Nonetheless,municipalities with strong presence of latifundia prior to1961 have experienced both a slower drop in poverty and a weaker improvement of land distribution .This paper finds that prevalence of latifundia partially offset the positive effect of land reform in promoting social development.

Telecommunications and economic growth: an empirical analysis of sub-saharan Africa

We examine the effect on economic growth of mobile cellular phones in sub-Saharan Africa where a marked asymmetry is present between land-line penetration and mobile telecommunications expansion. This study extends previous ones along two important dimensions. First, we allow for the potential endogeneity between economic growth and telecommunications expansion by employing a special linear generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. Second, we explicitly model for varying degrees of substitutability between mobile cellular and land-line telephony, so that greater expansion of mobile telecommunications can have a different impact whenever the level of land-line penetration differs. We find that mobile cellular phone expansion is an important determinant of the rate of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, we find that the contribution of mobile cellular phones to economic growth has been growing in importance in the region, and that the marginal impact of mobile telecommunication services is even greater wherever land-line phones are rare. Given the low cost of mobile telecommunications technology relative to other broad infrastructure projects, especially land-line infrastructure, we advocate that mobile telecommunication services be encouraged in the area.

La construcción de equipamientos híbridos en altura como respuesta a un modelo de ciudad denso y compacto: una propuesta para la UPZ N°71 Tibabuyes en la localidad de Suba en Bogotá.

El interés de este trabajo de grado consiste en proponer la construcción de un equipamiento híbrido en altura como alternativa de solución frente al crecimiento poblacional y la escasez de suelo presentes en la Unidad de Planeamiento Zonal- 71 Tibabuyes en la localidad de Suba. Se planea esta propuesta en el marco de un modelo de ocupación territorial denso y compacto contemplado en el Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial de Bogotá. Por tanto, el equipamiento híbrido en altura busca disminuir el déficit y mejorar el acceso a los equipamientos urbanos colectivos por parte de los habitantes de este territorio con el propósito de replantearse la manera de concebir las edificaciones tradicionales que brindan los servicios sociales.

Incidencia de la política minero-energética sobre la tenencia de la tierra en el Caquetá (2002-2014)

El presente estudio de caso parte analizando el proceso de ocupación y despojo de la tierra en el Caquetá, con el objetivo de mostrar las formas de usurpación histórica legales e ilegales, que han dado paso a la consolidación de una estructura de poder desigual y violento. Sobre este escenario inequitativo y violento se pone de manifiesto como la puesta en marcha de la política minero-energética es el resultado de un proceso de negociación entre empresas y gobernantes, que tiene por objetivo vaciar los territorios para recrear nuevos espacios sobre los cuales sea posible reproducir la dinámica de acumulación capitalista, ahondando de paso, las desigualdades, la marginación de la población campesina y la violencia en los territorios en donde se posa dicha estrategia. Este análisis se enmarca, principalmente, en la perspectiva de Saskia Sassen sobre el Estado Corporativo y la perspectiva de David Harvey sobre las nuevas formas del capitalismo.

Economic shocks and crime: evidence from the crash of ponzi schemes

In November 2008, Colombian authorities dismantled a network of Ponzi schemes, making hundreds of thousands of investors lose tens of millions of dollars throughout the country. Using original data on the geographical incidence of the Ponzi schemes, this paper estimates the impact of their break down on crime. We find that the crash of Ponzi schemes differentially exacerbated crime in affected districts. Confirming the intuition of the standard economic model of crime, this effect is only present in places with relatively weak judicial and law enforcement institutions, and with little access to consumption smoothing mechanisms such as microcredit. In addition, we show that, with the exception of economically-motivated felonies such as robbery, violent crime is not affected by the negative shock.